Where's The Mirror On The Wall
by FanGirlFreak16
Summary: A good portion of our lifetime we went around not knowing what we looked like. Well, we knew the obvious things like that we were turtles, but we didn't know our eye color, or teeth color. When Mikey brings up a certain question, things are discussed, and I ask Father a deep and meaningful question. One I don't think he will ever forget.


A good portion of our lifetime we went around not knowing what we really looked like. Well, we knew the obvious things. We were turtles, we were green, I had a gap between my teeth, and Raph a lightning bolt like chip in his plastron. We knew what each other looked like and nothing more.

We would often ask each other what we looked like. The markings on our faces, the color of our eyes and teeth. We wanted to know everything.

At the time, we hadn't a mirror nor much food. We didn't have beds, but a big, ripped with holes, blanket. To pass the time and try to forget the hunger pains, we often drew ourselves, guessing our appearances.

We also would have each other draw ourselves to get better accuracy.

"What color are my eyes?"

"Do I have any face markings?"

"Does this picture look like me?"

These were common questions we would ask each other. We also imagined what humans looked like. All we could guess on was a photo Master Splinter still owned from his human years. Of him, Tang Shen, and Miwa.

"But remember, my sons, not everybody looks alike. Most look different than each other, just like you four."

"Daddy, what do I look like?" A four year old Mikey asked.

Splinter chuckled as he picked Mikey up and placed him on his knee. "Well, Michelangelo, your eyes are a pale, baby blue color. Upon your face are tiny dots called freckles. Your teeth are a brilliant white, and your skin is a pale green."

Splinter normally spoke these descriptions every night before putting us to sleep. He didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy doing so each night. We'd all ask what we looked like and he'd always give an answer.

"Why won't the humans accept us?" Our curious Mikey asked before bed one night.

Splinter sighed. "It's because they've never seen anything like us before. They're afraid that we'll hurt them."

"But we would never!" Leo yelled in protest.

Splinter hushed Leo gently. "I know that, my son, but they do not."

Raph huffed. "That's stupid! Why we'd never think about hurting them, but all they want to do is send us off to some lab to-"

"Hush, Raphael," Splinter said gently. He then sighed. "I know it is not fair, my sons. You four should be able to run around with the other children. You four should know what you look like. But, I'm afraid that's not how the world works."

I crawled over to Splinter and stood on shaky legs, leaning on him for support. "And why not, Daddy?"

He smiled at me warmly. "It's just not, Donatello. And I wish nothing more for the world to change, and for you boys to be allowed to play outside without being hunted or threatened."

Suddenly Mikey asked a question really quietly, but loud enough for Splinter to hear. "Daddy, are we ugly?"

I could feel Splinter's breath hitch. The question had obviously caught him off guard. "No, Michelangelo. None of you are ugly. All four of you are very beautiful. All four of you are very precious. As you all know you four started out as regular turtles. Am I correct?"

We all nodded.

Splinter smiled. "Turtles were Tang Shen's favorite animal. So I decided to by a one, but when I heard all four of you were brothers I didn't have the heart to split you up. I even know your hatch dates."

"April 12th, 1997!" Leo chirped.

"May 2nd, 1997." Raph recited.

"October 16th, 1997!" I laughed.

"December 28th, 1997!" Mikey exclaimed happily.

Splinter nodded with a smile. "Yes, my sons. And a beautiful thing, I believe, is that each of you were born in a different season. Leonardo, Spring, Raphael, Summer, Donatello, Autumn, and Michelangelo, Winter. But you boys know the story of how we became."

"Tell us again, please, father." Raph asked. Aw, yes, this was a story that we asked for so much, I think we would have been able to recite it at just the mere age of four.

He smiled warmly as he began to rock Mikey gently. I moved to sit back down next to Leo. "Well, after I was finished at the pet store, I began to walk home with four baby turtles, when I heard two men speaking. The two looked identical so I mistook them for twins. The way they were speaking I had believed that they were planning a terrorist attack. I had left to go and inform the police, but I stepped on a rat causing it to squeak loudly. The men looked my way and I began to fight them. During the fight, however, a green canister that the men had been holding broke, enveloping you four and me in the green ooze. We all began to mutate. Myself into a humanoid rat, and you four into humanoid turtle infants. I heard four wails to find you four as babies. Knowing that we wouldn't be accepted I moved us to the sewers. And our story is still being written."

Mikey was snuggled against Splinter's chest breathing rhythmically.

I smiled gently at my baby brother who was nearing sleep. Tonight Splinter would be going out looking for food. The thought made my stomach rumble. I heard Splinter sigh when he heard the familiar noise.

"The point of the story is that we all had a simpler life before the mutation. But before then I never had four amazing sons. Sure, we have a hard life, but we'll find a way. We always do."

I smiled slightly, ignoring the pain in my stomach. "Father, if no more food can be found, will we see each other in Heaven?"

He sighed as he placed Mikey down on the blanket and covered all four of us with another. "Yes, my sons, we will," He gently kissed each of our foreheads like he did each night. "I love you, my sons."

And with that he left the room and our home. Each of us feared that one day when we wake up, father wouldn't be home.

But trying to push all doubts aside we fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning when we awoke was one of the best days of our four year lives. When we exited our room we noticed that our father had found a lot of food. The four of us rejoiced.

"Oh, Leo, look at all the good food!" Mikey cried happily. I wouldn't say good food. Most of it was molded or had teeth marks in it, but it was food nonetheless.

Leo smiled at us. There was so much food! "My sons," We all faced our father with looks of ecstasy, "I have another surprise for you."

Our looks of ecstasy soon turned to one of puzzlement. "But, Father," I said, "we've got a lot of food now. What could be better?"

Splinter chuckled. "Come and see, my sons."

We obeyed with confused eyes as we followed Master Splinter to a room. And when we entered we could have jumped out of our shells.

"Oh, Father!" We all cried. And there we were. Staring back at ourselves. We took each detail in carefully. The red that dotted my brown eyes, each different color shades on our skin, the colors of our teeth. Everything. For the first time in our lives we finally knew what we looked like. "Thank you, Father!" We all cried as we hugged him.

He hugged us back. "You're welcome, my sons."

Mikey giggled. "Now we have food and know what we look like!"

Splinter laughed lightly. "Yes, you do, my sons," He kissed all of our heads. "Yes, you do."

 **Just a sad/heart warming one-shot that I wrote after I was finished with my social studies test in school today. Funny how my best ideas come to me when I'm at school. Did you like it, love it, hate it? Let me know. Your opinion matters. :)**


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